Chapter 10 - Victoria Finally Names Her Partner
By eight in the morning, Victoria Sterling had asked for a deal.
Not immunity.
Protection.
Detective Ruiz took Clara and Marcus to the precinct only because Victoria refused to speak unless they were present.
She sat behind the interview-room glass looking smaller than Clara had ever seen her.
Without the mansion, the diamonds, and the carefully managed lighting of her life, Victoria looked like an exhausted sixty-six-year-old woman who had run out of lies.
Marcus entered first.
Clara followed.
Victoria’s eyes went immediately to the bruise on Clara’s shoulder.
“I didn’t mean for you to hit the table that hard.”
Marcus flinched as if struck.
Clara sat across from her.
“You still pushed me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victoria looked toward the one-way glass.
“Because Daniel told me Julian had the recording.”
Marcus stared.
“So you attacked Clara to stop Julian?”
“I thought if there was chaos, Daniel could get the phone.”
Clara almost laughed at the absurdity.
“You created an accident to cover the recording of you planning another accident.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“When you say it like that…”
“There is no other way to say it.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“What happened on the stairs?”
Victoria swallowed.
“I loosened the banister.”
Marcus’s face twisted.
Clara forced herself not to look away.
Victoria continued.
“Andrew gave you a mild sedative earlier at dinner. Not enough to hurt you. Enough to make you dizzy.”
Clara’s skin went cold.
“He drugged me before the fall?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“So you’d miss the board meeting the next morning.”
Clara stared.
The Vance Holdings board had met the day after her fall.
She had been in the hospital.
Daniel had chaired the meeting without her.
Victoria shook her head frantically.
“You were supposed to sprain an ankle. Maybe break a wrist. Daniel said he needed forty-eight hours to finish a restructuring vote.”
Marcus’s hands clenched.
“You expected her to fall down a marble staircase and only sprain an ankle?”
“I was told the runner would cushion the fall.”
Clara remembered the staircase.
The runner had been removed for cleaning that afternoon.
“Who removed it?” she asked.
Victoria looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
Clara believed her.
That was the terrible part.
Victoria had planned harm.
But someone had made it more dangerous.
“Daniel changed the plan,” Clara said.
Victoria nodded.
“He always changed the plan.”
Marcus asked, “Who is his partner?”
Victoria’s eyes filled with tears.
“Not partner.”
“What?”
“Daughter.”
Clara stopped breathing.
Victoria whispered the name.
“Evelyn Hart.”
Clara stared at her.
“No.”
“I didn’t know until last year.”
“No.”
“Daniel had an affair with Amelia’s college roommate before he married Amelia. Evelyn gave birth in secret and placed the baby for adoption.”
Marcus frowned. “You’re saying Amelia’s supposed daughter was actually Daniel’s?”
“Yes.”
Clara shook her head.
“But Evelyn is only nine years younger than Dad.”
Victoria looked confused.
Then understanding hit her.
“No. Not Evelyn.”
Clara’s heart stopped.
Victoria leaned forward.
“Evelyn is the mother.”
The room went silent.
“The daughter is someone else.”
Clara thought of Julian’s last words.
The sister isn’t Amelia’s secret. She’s Daniel’s.
Victoria whispered, “And Daniel has been paying her through Hartwell Trust for eighteen years.”
Marcus asked the only question that mattered.
“Who is she?”
Victoria looked directly at Clara.
“Your attorney.”
May you like
Clara’s face went numb.
“Maya Reynolds.”
